Unfinished Business

[Guest Grace]

Can unfinished business be placed at the top of the agenda if another item cannot be reported on without its disposition?

[Rob Elsman]

The proper motion to take up an item of business ahead of its assigned place in the established order of business is the incidental motion, Suspend the Rules: "Mr. President, I move to suspend the rules that interfere with the immediate consideration of [...]." This motion is not debatable and requires a two-thirds vote for adoption. See RONR (12th ed.) §25.

[Richard Brown]

If you are using an agenda, you may arrange it in any order you so desire. You aren’t required to follow the standard order of business.  Once an agenda is adopted, if you are using one, you may still suspend the rules to take an item out of order.

[J. J.]

It would also lay each intervening item of business on the table when pending. 

[Rob Elsman]

If the assembly has an established order of business, the adoption of a non-conforming agenda requires a two-thirds vote, since the adoption of the main motion has the effect of suspending the rules. RONR (12th ed.) 10:8(7)(b).

[Rob Elsman]

Yes, I agree with J.J. that each intervening item of business can be laid on the table when it is called up. The advantage is that each intervening item of business can be temporarily disposed of by a majority vote; the disadvantage is that the process may be inconvenient and time-consuming if there are quite a number of intervening items of business .

[Guest Grace]

We will be using an agenda. I am preparing it now and want to place unfinished business after the minutes but before we have officers' reports.

[J. J.]

On 4/24/2024 at 10:12 AM, Guest Grace said:

We will be using an agenda. I am preparing it now and want to place unfinished business after the minutes but before we have officers' reports.

If you adopt the agenda that way, that will be the order. 

[Rob Elsman]

On 4/24/2024 at 9:12 AM, Guest Grace said:

We will be using an agenda. I am preparing it now and want to place unfinished business after the minutes but before we have officers' reports.

Don't be so sure. "We" get to debate and amend the proposed agenda before "we" vote to adopt or reject it. What "we" finally agree upon may look nothing like what is being prepared.

[Richard Brown]

On 4/24/2024 at 9:12 AM, Guest Grace said:

We will be using an agenda. I am preparing it now and want to place unfinished business after the minutes but before we have officers' reports.

Agreeing with JJ, if the body (the assembly.... the group that is meeting, whether it be the board or the general membership.... adopts or approves the agenda that you prepare, then it is a done deal.    Please understand that unless your rules proviide otherwise, no one person has the power to "set" or mandate a particular agenda.  Neither can the board, unless it is a board meeting.  Anyone can propose an agenda, but it is not an official agenda until it is adopted by the body that is meeting. Until then, it is simply a PROPOSED agenda.

[Guest Grace]

Yes, I understand that it is proposed until adopted by the assembly. Thanks, everyone.

[Wright Stuff]

If an organization has adopted RONR, doesn't it automatically have an established order of business (unless their bylaws say otherwise)?

[Rob Elsman]

On 4/28/2024 at 3:05 PM, Wright Stuff said:

doesn't it automatically have an established order of business

We do not know what kind of assembly this is or how often it meets.  In general, though, a general membership assembly or board that meets regularly as often as the quarterly time interval would have an established order of business--the standard order of business would be the default.

[Atul Kapur]

Quote

If an organization has adopted RONR, doesn't it automatically have an established order of business (unless their bylaws say otherwise)?

Well, that's not the only condition that needs to be met.

"41:6 In organizations that have adopted this book as parliamentary authority and that have not adopted a special order of business, this series of headings is the prescribed order of business for regular meetings, unless the periods intervening between consecutive regular meetings are usually more than a quarterly time interval (see 9:7)."

Edited April 28, 2024 at 08:26 PM by Atul Kapur

[Josh Martin]

On 4/28/2024 at 3:05 PM, Wright Stuff said:

If an organization has adopted RONR, doesn't it automatically have an established order of business (unless their bylaws say otherwise)?

As Dr. Kapur notes, it may or may not, depending upon the specifics of the organization and assembly in question.

To the extent that the assembly does already have an established order of business, technically the organization should just be following that instead of bothering with adopting an agenda (unless a particular meeting requires an agenda for whatever reason), but the members of this forum are fighting a losing battle on that issue, as my personal experience is that every assembly of any kind adopts an agenda for every meeting, even if that agenda simply regurgitates the standard order of business in RONR.

If an assembly does already have an established order of business, then the adoption of an agenda requires a majority vote if the agenda does not conflict with the order of business and does not contain any special orders; otherwise it will require a 2/3 vote for adoption.

Edited April 29, 2024 at 04:01 PM by Josh Martin